NEW YORK—What we learned Saturday night while watching the Louisville Cardinals complete a stunning second-half comeback and earn their second consecutive Big East Tournament championship with a 78-61 victory against Syracuse:

Never count out the Cards

At one point in the second half, Syracuse led 45-29. Let that sink in for a moment. In the second half of a game they lost by 17 points, the Orange led by 16 points with less than 16 minutes remaining in the game.

This Louisville defense is absolutely good enough to win a national championship. That’s not a new revelation, by any means, but this second half is the section of video that will keep opposing NCAA Tournament coaches up nights, the video that will wake them up in cold sweats if they’re able to fall asleep.

This was a Big East Tournament championship the Cardinals will remember long after they’ve joined the ACC, and it’s one Syracuse won’t forget, no matter how soon they jump leagues.

In the first half, Louisville shot 25.9 percent and scored 22 points. In the second half, the Cardinals shot 53.3 percent and scored 56 points. The difference, Louisville coach Rick Pitino told a crowd of reporters in a hallway deep inside Madison Square Garden, was shot selection and patience.

“It taught us a great lesson tonight,” he said. “To really rush your offense like that in a big-time game taught us a lesson. I told them at halftime, I said, we’re going to go out and play like Louisville in the second half. We know what comebacks are all about. We’re going to get into our press because we’re going to take good shots.”

This was a Big East Tournament championship the Cardinals will remember long after they’ve joined the ACC in July 2014, and it’s one Syracuse won’t forget, no matter how soon they jump leagues (for the record, that happens on July 1 this year).

“For me, it’s the end of an era,” Pitino said. “The Big East comes to an end, and to be back-to-back champions, to have a captain be back-to-back MVPs (Peyton Siva), it’s as special as it gets. And to have it happen in Madison Square Garden is a memory of a lifetime.”

Nets not worthy

This time around, the Cardinals didn’t bother to cut down the nets, as is tradition for team that wins a conference tournament. They have their sights set higher than “just” the Big East Tournament.

“We have a goal in mind,” Siva said. “We want to savor the moment. God-willing, we make it to the national championship, but we’ve got to take that one game at a time.”

It’s an odd move, but a confident one. And it’s an especially stark contrast to what happened at Indiana, when the Hoosiers cut down the nets to celebrate a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship even after losing at home to Ohio State.

The Cardinals hope to only cut down the nets once in postseason, in Atlanta after winning the national championship.

“Let’s see if we can do something special,” Pitino said. “And if it happens for us, it happens. If not, we didn’t miss it too much because we cut it last year.”

Harrell a beast

Freshman power forward Montrezl Harrell, who was originally committed to Virginia Tech but opted to attend Louisville after Hokies coach Seth Greenberg was fired, played the game of his life Saturday night.

He had seen relatively limited minutes down the stretch—not more than 19 since Jan. 9—but was absolutely instrumental in Louisville’s comeback. His length (he’s 6-8 with a 7-6 wingspan) was a big part of the game plan.

“You have to beat Syracuse’s zone by going high to low, or by going diagonally from high to corner,” Pitino said. “You can’t beat it by passing to the wing.”

His massive dunk with 9:51 left in the second half, off an excellent dish from point guard Peyton Siva, gave Louisville its first lead of the game. That wasn’t Harrell’s only big play, though. There’s a reason he stayed on the court for 24 minutes, after playing just eight on Friday night against Notre Dame.

He attacked the rim relentlessly. He rebounded. He blocked a huge shot with under four minutes left in the game. Heck, he even knocked down a jumpshot.

“Coach didn’t tell me it was gonna be a big game for me, he didn’t say he’s gonna need me, he didn’t say none of that,” Harrell said. “He just said that everybody as a team, we had to play hard.”

Harrell definitely played hard. He scored 20 points—his previous career high was 14 vs. Missouri-Kansas City in December—and grabbed seven rebounds and was the physical presence the Cardinals needed to complement center Gorgui Dieng.

MCW is special

There was a time not so long ago that Syracuse point guard Michael Carter-Williams was considered a no-brainer All-American. Syracuse’s stumble to the end of the regular season—MCW’s struggles were only part of the slide—ended that conversation, but the talented sophomore reminded us this week at Madison Square Garden why he’s still regarded so highly by NBA scouts—draftexpress.com has Carter-Williams going 13th overall in its mock draft.

He finished with 11 points, nine assists and four turnovers.

In the first three games of the Big East Tournament, he handed out 27 assists and came up with seven steals. In the first half Saturday against Louisville, MCW delivered two of the biggest field goals to that point of the game. The Cardinals had cut Syracuse’s eight-point lead down to four points on a 3-pointer by Kevin Ware with 5:25 left in the first half when MCW took over two possessions.

On the first one, he drove to his left, fending off a Louisville defender draped all over him—that’s the only way Louisville defenders know how to defend—and converted to make the score 24-18. On Syracuse’s next possession, he again attacked the rim, and somehow, while falling down after hard contact by Chane Behanan, flipped up a shot with his left hand that banked in to give the Orange again an eight-point advantage. Those two baskets started a 13-4 run for Syracuse to close the first half and give the Orange a substantial 35-22 halftime lead. Not nearly substantial enough, it turned out.

And in the second half MCW again struggled. He wasn’t the only one who couldn’t handle Louisville’s second-half pressure, but as the primary ballhandler, he’s probably most responsible for SU’s dozen turnovers after the break.